Ukraine’s public debt gets more than 10% cheaper since year-start - finance ministry

During the second quarter of 2024, the state and state-guaranteed debt of Ukraine increased by UAH 243.7 billion in hryvnia equivalent, and by $1.1 billion in dollar equivalent. At the same time, since the beginning of the year, the cost of debt servicing has dropped by over 10%.

This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, reports Ukrinform.

"During the second quarter of 2024, the total volume of the state and state-guaranteed debt of Ukraine increased by UAH 243.7 billion in hryvnia equivalent, and by $1.1 billion in dollar equivalent mainly as a result of an increase in long-term concessional financing from international partners," the report says.

It is noted that as of June 30, 2024, the state and state-guaranteed debt of Ukraine amounted to UAH 6,168 billion, or $152.2 billion.

That’s including state and state-guaranteed external debt in the amount of UAH 4,456.4 billion (72.3% of the total volume of state and state-guaranteed debt), or $109.9 billion; state and state-guaranteed domestic debt at UAH 1,711.6 billion (27.7%) or $42.2 billion.

The Ministry of Finance notes that the debt rose mainly due to the growth of long-term preferential financing from international partners.

At the same time, the weighted average value of the state and state-guaranteed debt of Ukraine decreased by 10.3% from the beginning of 2024 – from 6.24% to 5.6%.

Soft loans from international financial organizations and foreign governments make up the largest share of the debt structure at 54%.

Domestic securities account for 27%, foreign securities – for 16%, and loans from commercial banks and other financial institutions – for 3%.

Regarding the currency structure, 35% of the debt is denominated in euros, 26% in U.S. dollars, 25% in hryvnias, 10% in SDR, and 4% in other currencies.

As reported by Ukrinform, in the first quarter of 2024, the public debt increased by $5.7 billion.